Article by Kate Hopkins

​

How many times have we bribed a spouse or friend to hold the camera for us, hoping they could tolerate our need for photos or video long enough to help us review our position? There are several new devices available on the market to track and follow a rider while they are working without the need for bribery. These cameras range from around $100 to nearly $1000. I decided to see just how effective one of these lower priced items.

 

I had received several adds for the Pivo as the holiday season approached, some offering nice discounts. I looked and considered the options available and chose to purchase the Pivo Silver standard pack. This includes the Pivo, remote, a nice case, a different phone mount and a tripod. The Pivo Silver is recommended for riders as it has a faster tracking ability. The Pivo red will also work, but may lose you more often.

 

The Pivo arrived fairly quickly despite the current delays in shipping. It was well packed and appears to be well made. To be clear, this is not a camera, it is a device that holds your phone and uses Bluetooth and an app to follow your ride. I found the set up to be fairly easy, but to be fair, I am very tech savvy. I did several filming's of both myself and others to evaluate its function.

 

The Pivo works best when you are alone in the ring. It uses image tracking and not an on rider beacon to follow you. It will work best if your horse is in high contrast to the environment. Other movement outside an arena can cause loss of the tracking on the rider.

 

Pros:

• By far the best priced device on the market.

• Follows and captures 90% of the ride when in the center, less if on the side of the ring.

• Easily set up.

• Can be controlled by remote for both video and photo.

• Can use either front or rear facing camera.

• Add on will allow a GoPro to be mounted above the phone.

• Excellent customer service and response.

• Active facebook page with riders and the company in sharing conversation.

 

Cons:

• While I like the tripod due to the small base, it can be easily knocked over by your horse.

• Doesn’t always work well with older phones.

• Requires large amounts of storage on the phone.

• Can have difficulty with following rides over multiple jumps or other obstacles.

• Drains both phone and device battery.

• Cannot effectively follow one rider in a ring of multiple horses.

• Remote doesn’t always stay connected.

 

Overall, I recommend the product for riders who need to film their rides and can ride alone. It can also be used for riders to film video blogs. It has a feature that will allow a rider to share the video and have a remote lesson, but I have not had a chance to explore that feature. I will keep you posted!

 

Pivo Silver is currently on sale for $139 from Pivoriders.com I also recommend joining the Pivo horse riding community Facebook page for help, hints and tons of information!